Ice Cream
by Lady Pyrefly
Summary: It's hot. Dreadfully hot. Yuzu and Karin demand ice cream, and Rukia tags along. Too bad she's never had ice cream before. Hehehe...[IchiRuki, kind of]


Ice Cream

By Lady Pyrefly

Author's Note: There's just the tinsiest hint of Ichigo/Rukia towards the end, and I very much hope you like it.

----------

"Ichigo…" Yuzu whined, standing in his doorway. Ichigo gulped; Rukia was reading in the closet. "Ichigo it's hot."

"I know, Yuzu," Ichigo answered his sister. He struggled to keep his tone even. Ichigo could just imagine the awkward conversation that would occur if Yuzu saw Rukia in his closet.

Yuzu sighed and switched her weight from one leg to the other. "Dad says you're suppos'd to take me and Karin for ice cream." She took two steps into her older brother's room.

Ichigo froze. If Yuzu took one more step forward and looked to her left, Rukia would be seen. "Y-yeah. Go get Karin and get ready, okay?"

"Okay!" Yuzu chirped and skipped happily from the room.

"What's creamed ice?" Rukia asked calmly, looking up from her book in the closet. Apparently the close call had no effect on her mood.

The current Death sputtered in fury from the end of his bed. "It's ice cream. It's like frozen flavored milk." Ichigo said finally, through gritted teeth as he pulled on a tennis shoe. "A dessert." Rukia merely stared at him with puzzled eyes. Ichigo sighed. He had really hoped for a quiet day. "Meet us on the corner, I'll get you ice cream too."

Rukia arched one perfect eyebrow out him, before wordlessly jumping out the window.

Ichigo grumbled to himself. This ice cream thing hadn't even begun, and already it was driving him mad.

- - -

"What can I do for you?" the ice cream lady asked, a smile plastered on her face. Ichigo looked round at his followers.

Karin looked up from the table she had been sitting at. "Chocolate cherry," she said. The lady smiled at her, and Karin smirked back.

"I'd like French vanilla, please." Yuzu ordered next, her usual plain vanilla on her usual plain sugar cone.

Ichigo looked to his right, and saw Rukia staring intently at the tubs of multi-colored ice cream. "What are you getting?" he asked impatiently.

Rukia either didn't notice or didn't care that she was wasting time. "That one's…green…" she said, and pointed at a tub third from the right.

Ice Cream Lady smiled again. "It's mint chocolate chip. Would you like that one?"

Rukia looked to Ichigo for confirmation. When he nodded slightly, she said to the woman, "I think that sounds very nice," and smiled.

"And for you, sir?"

Ichigo hesitated. Most of his allowance was already gone, and the last bit of it was burning in his pocket. A tan colored tub of nothing but sugar and milk called to him. "Peanut butter, please," he said with defeat, and handed over the money.

The lady handed him his ice cream. Ichigo grabbed a handful of spoons on his way over to the table where his sisters sat giggling about something. He spread the rabidly pink spoons out on the table, but only Yuzu and himself took one. Karin was content to eat with her mouth alone, and Rukia was staring at her cone like she didn't know what to do next.

Ichigo put a spoonful of peanut butter ice cream in his mouth and watched Rukia with great amusement. Slowly, and feeling a little foolish, Rukia stuck out her tongue and licked her ice cream. Ichigo heard her gasp and she looked up at him. Rukia's eyes were a mix of delight and surprise.

"Ishhhcold…" she mumbled, her mouth still full.

He rolled his eyes at her. "No duh, idiot," he said.

Rukia swallowed and glared. "You didn't tell me it was _cold_."

"I did so!" Ichigo protested. "When you asked me what it was, I said ice cream's frozen milk."

She gave one last, long stare at her friend and murmered to her cone, "You didn't say _cold._" Rukia licked it again.

The orange haired boy smirked and returned to his own ice cream. The slight aftertaste of salt did well to distract him from Rukia fumbling with her own next to him. When he next looked up at her, Rukia had managed to get a smudge of pale green on her nose. "Oh for heaven's sake," Ichigo said loudly (causing many people to stare), and handed her a napkin. "Can't you do anything right?"

Rukia pawed at her nose with the napkins, struggling to get the ice cream off. Once it was, she smiled sweetly at Ichigo, and pushed the top of her ice cream cone into his cheek. "I did that right," she said in her harmless-little-girl voice, as Ichigo glowered at her with the mint ice cream dripping down his cheek.

Damn. That girl could make him so mad.

But as she giggled while Ichigo walked stiffly into the bathroom to clean up, he reflected that freezing half his face off was a worthy price to pay.

Author's Note: Oooh, now I crave ice cream. Did you like this? Tell me whatcha think!


End file.
